ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A delicious new concept is set to bring together two iconic Lehigh Valley food and beverage brands.
J’s Original Steaks and Subs restaurant and brewhouse is expected to open in late 2026 at 448 N. 17th St., co-owner Ed Lozano told 69 News.
Lozano is CEO of Savant Beverages LLC, which purchased Weyerbacher in 2022, and the new J’s concept will open at the site currently occupied by Weyerbacher’s Allentown Taproom & Biergarten.
Ryan Kneller
The year-old taproom operates next to the Fairgrounds Hotel, a full-service restaurant known for its fresh seafood dishes, and the new J’s concept will be a collaboration between Lozano and Fairgrounds Hotel owner Dominic Germano, Lozano said.
“It’s a collab between Dom and myself, and it’s something that’s in the early planning stages right now,” Lozano said.
“There’s a lot to figure out, but we’re excited to pursue it and hope we can get it open by the end of the year. Basically, we’re going to be converting the Weyerbacher taproom into a J’s Weyerbacher taproom, combining Weyerbacher’s beers with J’s food offerings.”
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
The Allentown taproom currently offers light snacks and occasionally hosts food trucks, Lozano said.
The new J’s location will likely feature J’s full menu, including J’s famous cheesesteaks and hot and cold subs, along with some additional menu features, Lozano said.
“We definitely feel like reviving J’s at the fairgrounds is going to be exciting for us and the community,” Lozano added. “Introducing some new additions will make it even more interesting and exciting.”
J’s originated as “J’s Atlantic City Giant Submarines” in 1968 with a single location at 15th and Turner streets in Allentown by butchers Jerald Yanowitz and Joe Williams.
Over the ensuing decades, the brand grew to dozens of locations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding region, including former J’s eateries in Catasauqua, Coopersburg, Hellertown and Telford.
Ryan Kneller
The Lehigh Valley’s last brick-and-mortar location of J’s closed in late May on Main Street in Northampton, and before that, the most recent former J’s location shuttered in 2024 on Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem.
Other former Bethlehem locations operated at the Westgate Mall on Schoenersville Road, at North New Street and Elizabeth Avenue, and on Fourth Street on the city’s south side.
At its peak in the mid-1980s, J’s had around 50 total locations spanning multiple counties.
The late Harold G. Fulmer III, a prominent Lehigh Valley businessman, purchased a controlling interest in J’s in 1985 with hopes to eventually grow the chain nationally.
J’s footprint, however, was greatly diminished in the late 1990s and 2000s, eventually being reduced to a handful of restaurants before Lozano purchased J’s in 2015.
A former Bethlehem location of J’s Steaks and Subs operated at 2140 Stefko Blvd.
Ryan Kneller
Lozano hoped to revive the brand, opening several Lehigh Valley J’s restaurants over the ensuing years, but all of these locations have since closed.
Former J’s eateries in Bath, Easton, Forks Township, Palmer Township, Lower Nazareth Township, and downtown Allentown are among the locations that closed over the past decade.
“We had nine [J’s restaurants] in the Lehigh Valley, but we closed all of them due to the pandemic,” Lozano said. “Those were more standard, quick-service restaurants, while [the forthcoming Allentown location] will be more of a larger grill and taproom operation.”
Weyerbacher, producing a wide array of craft beers that include IPAs, stouts and Belgian-style brews, opened its Allentown taproom a year ago at North 17th and Liberty streets.
The taproom and biergarten operate at the site of the former Pines Dinner Theater, which moved operations to The Shops at Cedar Point on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown.
Weyerbacher’s Allentown location supplements the brewery’s primary taproom and production space, a 30,000-square-foot facility, at 905 Line St. on Easton’s South Side.
Pictured is the tasting room at Weyerbacher Brewing in Easton.
The Allentown location features an indoor taproom and outdoor beer garden.
“I feel very good about their brand, their team, especially their CEO Eddie Lozano, whom I got to know well over the last couple of months, and I trust wholeheartedly to bring the location back to its original beer garden roots that my family started in 1980,” Germano stated in an online post last year.
Weyerbacher, known for its Belgian-style brews including Merry Monks and QUAD, opened in 1995 in a converted livery stable near South Sixth and Northampton streets in Easton. It moved to a larger, 30,000-square-foot space on Line Street in 2001.
The brewery has a reputation for making “big, full-flavored, high-quality brews,” and it also has an extensive barrel aging program that produces fan favorites such as Insanity and Riserva, according to an online description.
Staple beers include Merry Monks (Belgian tripel), Blithering Idiot (barleywine ale), Quad (Belgian quadrupel) and Tiny (imperial stout).
Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
“Experimenting with different ingredients and brewing techniques, our brewers continue to stretch their creative minds and develop interesting and mind-blowing beers that will satisfy your taste for the extraordinary,” the online description continues.
Lozano said the tentative plan is for the Allentown taproom to temporarily close in a few weeks to allow for space updates in advance of the forthcoming J’s concept.
The newly rebranded J’s Steaks & Subs restaurant and brewhouse, featuring Weyerbacher beer, would then open sometime in late 2026, Lozano said.
Individuals should monitor the Allentown taproom’s Facebook page for future updates.
The Allentown taproom, which regularly hosts live music, is normally open Thursday through Saturday, Lozano said. However, it has extended hours this week – operating Sept. 2-7 – in conjunction with the Allentown Fair.
The forthcoming J’s location is more good news for J’s fans.
J’s Steaks & Subs
A new J’s Steaks & Subs food truck, run by the husband and wife who operated the former Northampton location of J’s, debuted earlier this summer and is serving customers at Weyerbacher Brewing Co.’s Easton taproom, 905 Line St., Easton.